Rose to the Rescue!
by phoenixsoul13
Summary: The Doctor ends up getting kidnapped by alien creatures, so it's Rose to the rescue!


**A/N** : A Secret Santa gift for roseinthevoid on tumblr. :) Happy Holidays!

Prompt: An adventure where the Doctor unsurprisingly finds himself in a tight spot. Fortunately, Rose is there to save him (with romance if you can manage to fit it in)

* * *

As the TARDIS _thunked_ , signifying that they'd landed, Rose asked, "So where'd you suppose we are now?"

"Oi, my driving's not that bad." The Doctor stepped away from the central console, his smile weakening his protest.

Rose only grinned. "Say that to the last six places that weren't the planet _Barcelona_."

"And yet, we only ended up running for our lives twice." He held out a hand. "But I've got a good feeling about this. It's definitely _Barcelona_ this time."

He'd said that the last six times too. Laughing, Rose took the offered hand, and they walked towards the TARDIS door. Honestly, she didn't care much about getting to specific places (except to visit her mum); she just enjoyed teasing The Doctor about it. So long as she got to travel space and time with him, she was happy.

The view that greeted them outside the TARDIS was that of a forest with tall trees (course, purple trunks and blue leaves), and as they walked away from the TARDIS, the trees opened up to a field of grass.

"I don't see any dogs with no noses, Doctor," Rose said, corner of her mouth upturned in a half grin.

The Doctor didn't protest this time, only saying, "Well, that doesn't mean this place is any less worth exploring."

"Of course not!" Rose stepped forward and looked around. It seemed peaceful, almost quiet. There was the whisper of the wind passing through the trees, but she couldn't see or hear any other life. That didn't mean that nothing was there though. She took a deep breath, and almost startled at the smell of something familiar. "Is that…" She glanced towards the trees, but no… that wasn't it. Reaching towards the ground, she touched the grass and brought it up to her hand to smell. " _Mint_ grass."

"I think I prefer apple grass myself," The Doctor said, smiling. "Mint is good of course, but nothing beats apples."

Rose laughed briefly, then stopped, as she heard something behind her. It was a whisper, though she couldn't make out the words. "Do you hear that?"

"There's… definitely something."

"It's like something's whispering right behind me." But when she turned around, there was no one there. The whisper was still behind her though, like it moved when she moved. Were there telepathic aliens nearby? It was like when the Face of Boe 'spoke', his voice seeming to come from right at the back of her head, even when she knew he was right in front of her. Except this alien, whatever it was, was 'whispering'. She looked around the mint meadow and between the trees, but she couldn't see anything moving.

"Perhaps they're trying to figure us out before they approach." The Doctor stepped forward, and she stepped with him, hooking her arm through his. That was probably a good sign, that they weren't immediately attacked. Unless the aliens were just trying to figure out how to take care of them.

Rose rather hoped that they wouldn't end up running for their lives again. It was nice when they could just _enjoy_ an alien planet.

(Though never let it be said that she _didn't_ get a kick out of running for their lives. She did love it when her blood got pumping.)

As they moved forward, the whispering got louder. And then joined by another whisper. And another, and another, until she felt as though a crowd was whispering at the back of her head, voices overlapping each other.

 _Whoarewhatyoudoyouwhywantareyoudon'therehurtleaveususalone_

Rose tried to project _we're just travelers, we come in peace_ , but she wasn't sure if the telepathic communication was one way or not. Maybe she should say it aloud?

 _ **leave us alone**_

Rose stopped at the same time the Doctor did. "I think we should probably go," she said, still looking around for the source of the voices in her head.

"I agree; they seem…"

"Scared."

"Best not to disturb them further. Even peaceful beings can be antagonistic under the influence of fear." The Doctor's face looked focused. Was he sending them a message? Rose tried to send her own message of acceptance of the aliens' request, but wasn't entirely sure it was working. She'd have to ask the Doctor later on how precisely one communicated with telepathic beings when one wasn't a telepathic being themselves.

They were within sight of the TARDIS when she hearing a crowd of chattering noises, except these didn't seem to be coming from the back of her head. It was… coming from the trees? Looking up into the higher branches of the trees overhead, Rose spotted what she might have called the alien cousins of squirrels. They were twice the size though, their fur (that was fur, right?) was a dark green color with the exception of a blue spot on the tops of their heads. Same color as the leaves on the trees.

She turned her gaze from the trees, turned it towards the TARDIS, and then saw the same blue color in lines on the ground around them.

Tell her that wasn't a net.

Just as she was about to shout to warn the Doctor (and jump towards the clear mint grass herself), she heard him shout "Rose!" and felt herself pushed towards the mint grass.

She fell, rolled a short ways away, and looked up in time to see the net come up around the Doctor. "Doctor!" It lifted him up into the air, up into the trees, though she couldn't see it being pulled by anything.

Telekinetic alien squirrels? Just their luck.

The squirrels all started to move in a certain direction, and by the Doctor's shouts, she assumed him as well. She couldn't quite see him, but the rustling leaves moved in the same direction she'd seen the squirrels heading, so she ran off in that direction, following it as quickly as she could.

As she ran along, the forest grew denser, trees closer and closer together. Rose jumped over some tree roots that sprawled on the ground in her path, glanced up to make sure she was still following the rustling leaves where she assumed the Doctor was (he was still telling off the squirrels, scolding them as though they'd stolen sweets or something), but then tripped as she wasn't watching where she was running. _Ow_. Picking herself back up, she thought she saw something pink move out of the corner of her eye. What was… no, she didn't have time to look at this planet's other lifeforms.

Her running was stopped by a fast moving river in her path. The trees connected over it, so the squirrels (and the Doctor) kept on moving, but the trees were tall enough that if she tried to follow that way, they'd easily get far away of her. But what other choice did she have? How much time would it take to look for a way across the river? There were vines hanging from trees, the same color as the leaves (were these used to make the net?), but none looked positioned where they could carry her fully across the river.

 _ **here here over here**_

It was a voice in the back of her head again. Only one this time. She quickly looked around, and spotted a pink creature further along the river's edge. She would almost call it a rabbit, except she was sure that if she stood next to it, the top of its head would be level with her knees. And the top of its ear (one in place of two) could easily reach her hip.

 _ **cross here**_

She moved towards it, quickly, and it hopped out of sight (where, she wasn't sure; she didn't take the time to look), and she saw that it had been sitting next to a fallen tree that gave her a path across the river. She tried to tell the alien rabbit (what did they call themselves?) _thanks_ , then said, "Thank you," out loud just in case it was still within ear shot.

Crossing the tree bridge as quickly as possible, she continued on. Luckily, the alien squirrels and the Doctor hadn't gotten too far ahead. In fact, they had stopped altogether. The net the Doctor was tangled up in was secured to a strong branch (and spinning slightly; the Doctor was presumably trying to reach one of his pockets), as the squirrel-like creatures were chattering, almost as though arguing amongst themselves. As she stepped closer, trying to remain out of sight, she noticed that the Doctor was suspended over a hole in the ground. What might be in it, or how deep it was, she couldn't tell from this angle.

As Rose crept through the trees, approaching the one the Doctor was hanging from, one of the alien squirrels let out a loud, almost screech-like sound, and the chattering stopped as the squirrels one by one started to look in her direction. She'd been spotted.

Abandoning stealth, she climbed the tree the net was secured to, and to her surprise, the alien squirrels hurried out of her way, rather than stop her like she'd been expecting. Weird. Giving it no further thought, she moved onto the branch and leaned down towards the Doctor. "Where's your sonic screwdriver?" It wasn't like she had time to look for a sharp rock. Who knew when the squirrels might try to stop her?

"Left coat pocket."

It was a stretch, but… Rose hooked her legs over the branch, and let herself hang from it so she could reach the Doctor's coat pockets. She had to turn him a bit, prompting a, "Don't make me dizzy," but she managed to grab it.

"You should probably swing a bit," she said as she adjusted the setting on the screwdriver and pulled herself back upright onto the branch, where she could more easily aim it at the vine that was holding the net to it. The Doctor complied, clearly getting was she was going for, and it was only a few moments before the vine _snapped_ and the Doctor fell to the ground, a couple meters away from the hole (which from here looked very deep indeed). Rose quickly climbed down the tree. "You alright?"

"Yep," the Doctor said, sitting up with a groan as Rose helped to detangle him from the net. "Never better."

Neither had the chance to say anything else as they were suddenly pelted with small objects. Rocks, some roots, and what looked like mint leaves started descending from the trees around them. "Time to get out of here, I think." Rose grabbed the Doctor's hand and they swiftly left the area. They weren't followed though, which Rose was thankful for. She didn't want to be hit with things the entire way back to the TARDIS.

Some point after they crossed the river (and looked back to make sure they weren't being followed), the Doctor briefly tightened his grip on her hand. "Thank you for coming for my rescue."

Rose smiled at him. "No thanks necessary." As the TARDIS came into view, she added, "Though if you'd jumped out of the way right after you pushed me, I wouldn't have needed to."

"Sorry; it was… instinct."

Rose didn't get a chance to respond to that, as the small, pink, alien rabbit from before hopped into view.

"Oh, hello," the Doctor said, kneeling to bring himself closer to the creature's height.

Rose did the same, feeling weird towering over it. "I'm pretty sure this the one that helped me find a way across the river," she said, partly to herself. It looked like it, but she didn't know if they were _all_ pink, or if their colors varied like rabbits on earth.

 _ **a bit**_

Rose blinked at the answer she hadn't been expecting. She nodded her head towards it in thanks for answering her brief curiosity.

"Well, if you indeed helped Rose," the Doctor was saying, "than I owe you my thanks, for you helped save me."

The creature nodded, and Rose heard _**you're welcome**_ before it hopped off towards the mint grass clearing, disappearing faster than she could blink.

The Doctor smiled, then stood, offering a hand to Rose as she stood up as well. "So, where do think next? _Barcelona?_ "

Rose laughed as she stepped towards the TARDIS. "I think the only way we're going to get there is when we're not trying to go there."

"Oh, ye of little faith."


End file.
